Thoughts on the al-Marri sentencing - part 2

akravetz

Saturday

Oct 31, 2009 at 12:01 AMOct 31, 2009 at 7:53 PM

After reading comments today and talking with people, I figured Iíd add a few more thoughts on the issue. First off, his conditions in the brig. Hereís the deal. Al-Marri was taken from Peoria on June 23, 2003, just as U.S. District Judge Michael Mihm was to hold a crucial hearing. At this hearingóand I was thereóthe government was going to have to ďput up or shut upĒ about the charge (then lying to the FBI and credit card fraud). Mihm said no more hiding. if you have a case, show it. The hearing was a suppression hearing and the trial was about a month out. Anyway, in a shocking development, al-Marri was declared an EC (enemy combatant) and whisked off to the Brig in Charleston. There, he was subject to interrogation by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) for just over a year. He was held in a small concrete cell with no windows (well, they were blacked out), a concrete floor, no mirror, and a steel frame bed. No mattress. No pillow. No blanket. No toilet paper unless he needed it. He was not allowed to see out in the prison. No guards would talk to him. Their name tags were blacked out. When he left his cell, his eyes were covered by goggles. His ears were covered by muffs. His hands and legs were shackled and the chains connected to a belly chain. The interrogators would take away his glasses and his socks. They would make threats about his family. Told him he could disappear.

On some level, I donít have a problem with this. On some level, we are at war. Information came out that al-Marri was linked to two of the masterminds of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. He arrived in the US the day before 9-11, and was looking up information on poisons, waterways and dams. On some level, we need to do something to make sure the people are safe. And both sides agree that he was never physically tortured. However, the mental aspect was brutal. So much so that Mihm said in open court that it was unacceptable for DIA people to make threats about a manís family. Thatís not who we are, the judge said. And I agree. the US of A is the best place in the world. Why? Because we do it right, even when itís not convenient or good for us. Here you have rights. Here, there is a rule of law. Here, people do not disappear. And thatís why all our brave men and women serve, to protect our way of life. And yes, I get it that al-Marri would have probably cared less if the roles were reversed and he was in charge. But still, we are better than that.

On the other hand, I have always said that he should have remained in the civilian courts where it started. He was arrested in Dec. 2001, as a material witness for a federal grand jury in NYC. Within months, he was charged out there with credit card fraud. The case was moved back here after a year or so due to a venue issue. Then it was drooped and then it came back nearly six years later. All that time, however, he was in a ďlegal black holeĒ as one of al-Marriís attorneys put it. Should he have been there? A huge problem with that question is that we donít know what his mission was. My guess is that al-Marri himself didnít know. He was a sleeper agent sent here to do something but either he got caught before he found out, wasnít that good of a terrorist and they didnít trust him or was too stupid. Heís not dumb, thatís for sure. Mihm, himself acknowledged that. But it is troubling that a man who was here for much of the 1980s, had a good job in Qatar working for a bank and a cute family would go to a terrorist training camp and pledge himself to kill Americans.

See part three for some quotes by MihmÖ.

After reading comments today and talking with people, I figured Iíd add a few more thoughts on the issue. First off, his conditions in the brig. Hereís the deal. Al-Marri was taken from Peoria on June 23, 2003, just as U.S. District Judge Michael Mihm was to hold a crucial hearing. At this hearingóand I was thereóthe government was going to have to ďput up or shut upĒ about the charge (then lying to the FBI and credit card fraud). Mihm said no more hiding. if you have a case, show it. The hearing was a suppression hearing and the trial was about a month out. Anyway, in a shocking development, al-Marri was declared an EC (enemy combatant) and whisked off to the Brig in Charleston. There, he was subject to interrogation by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) for just over a year. He was held in a small concrete cell with no windows (well, they were blacked out), a concrete floor, no mirror, and a steel frame bed. No mattress. No pillow. No blanket. No toilet paper unless he needed it. He was not allowed to see out in the prison. No guards would talk to him. Their name tags were blacked out. When he left his cell, his eyes were covered by goggles. His ears were covered by muffs. His hands and legs were shackled and the chains connected to a belly chain. The interrogators would take away his glasses and his socks. They would make threats about his family. Told him he could disappear.

On some level, I donít have a problem with this. On some level, we are at war. Information came out that al-Marri was linked to two of the masterminds of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. He arrived in the US the day before 9-11, and was looking up information on poisons, waterways and dams. On some level, we need to do something to make sure the people are safe. And both sides agree that he was never physically tortured. However, the mental aspect was brutal. So much so that Mihm said in open court that it was unacceptable for DIA people to make threats about a manís family. Thatís not who we are, the judge said. And I agree. the US of A is the best place in the world. Why? Because we do it right, even when itís not convenient or good for us. Here you have rights. Here, there is a rule of law. Here, people do not disappear. And thatís why all our brave men and women serve, to protect our way of life. And yes, I get it that al-Marri would have probably cared less if the roles were reversed and he was in charge. But still, we are better than that.

On the other hand, I have always said that he should have remained in the civilian courts where it started. He was arrested in Dec. 2001, as a material witness for a federal grand jury in NYC. Within months, he was charged out there with credit card fraud. The case was moved back here after a year or so due to a venue issue. Then it was drooped and then it came back nearly six years later. All that time, however, he was in a ďlegal black holeĒ as one of al-Marriís attorneys put it. Should he have been there? A huge problem with that question is that we donít know what his mission was. My guess is that al-Marri himself didnít know. He was a sleeper agent sent here to do something but either he got caught before he found out, wasnít that good of a terrorist and they didnít trust him or was too stupid. Heís not dumb, thatís for sure. Mihm, himself acknowledged that. But it is troubling that a man who was here for much of the 1980s, had a good job in Qatar working for a bank and a cute family would go to a terrorist training camp and pledge himself to kill Americans.

See part three for some quotes by MihmÖ.

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